Here's a rather long video of Baby Girl showing off her vocabulary. This is proof that she really can say a TON of words, even though she won't say them when other people are around to hear her. She gets shy and won't say them around new people. Enjoy!

Here's our future Aggie! We're teaching her young to cheer for USU Aggies!

On Saturday, we had a Play Day with some of our friends! Michelle and I are friends from high school. Luckily, our husbands also became friends and have similar interests. So, we try to get together. It's a little harder now that we don't live in the same city, but it's not that far of a drive. We went to the zoo for a couple of hours in the afternoon. Just a few words of advice, don't go to the zoo in the afternoon in July. It was entirely too hot. We were all melting! It was fun though. Michelle has 3 boys (4, 2, 8 months) and Baby Girl enjoyed watching the boys. She likes to watch kids play, and doesn't play too closely with them! After the zoo, we had dinner together. We had delicious meatball subs. Then Dan and Morgan went fishing, while Baby Girl and I hung out with Michelle and her boys. I think Baby Girl liked being one of the boys. She loved playing with their cars. Michelle threw her boys in the bathtub, and Baby Girl wanted a bath too! It was pretty funny, so we gave her a bath. It was her first bath with a buddy. We didn't bring any pajamas with us, so Baby Girl borrowed some Transformer pajamas. She loved them. What a silly girl! On Sunday, after church, I was getting her out of her dress, and she wanted to wear her 'boy' clothes. So, she wore Transformer Pajamas all day Sunday too. We had a great time, and Baby Girl still talks about the boys that she played with. She can say all three of their names. We had a great time!

My child has hit the 'terrible twos'. She still has 2 more months until she's 2, but the full out tantrums are here. My only saving grace at this point, is that she seems to save her open defiance for when we are in the privacy of our own home. She's a quiet, sweet, obedient child when other people are here. I understand that it's a part of growing up. She's pushing her boundaries and experimenting with consequences ... I know, I know, I know. The most frequent battle we fight is changing her diaper and getting her dressed. She tells me when she's poopy and soggy. She holds my hand to go into her room to get changed. When I grab a clean diaper, she runs away from me and refuses to sit still for me to change her. She hates getting dressed. Yesterday, she had a massive melt down screaming at the top of her lungs: "nakey! nakey! nakey!" So, as long as I got her diaper on, she roamed around the house 'nakey'. So, with all of that, I've decided to embrace this and turn this power struggle into a potty training process. What am I thinking? I have no idea. So, after reading several articles about Potty Training, I've chosen a method that seems to fit our Baby Girl. Some specialists say, that letting the children run around 'nakey' from the waste down helps them with going potty. So, starting today, until she's trained or I give up, we will be spending the rest of the summer outside. Baby Girl will be partially or completely 'nakey'. The power struggles of changing her diaper will be limited to nap/bedtime.

We'll see if she's actually ready to be potty trained. According to the articles, she shows several signs of being ready. She has yet to pee on her potty though. However, she has peed on our lawn 4 times. We spent 3 hours outside this morning, and Baby Girl was loving her 'nakey' time. She ran freely. Luckily, we have a nice, secluded back yard with lots of shade and sunscreen to protect her precious cheeks! Wish me luck, I think I will need every ounce!

Our holiday weekend seemed to pass so quickly. For the last month, I would ask Morgan what we were going to do for the 4^th. Hmm. No decisions or even ideas. Then it was here, and we still didn’t have any plans. But that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy every moment of our holiday weekend. We seemed to do a lot, but only took pictures of one event.

Friday: Morgan worked, but Baby Girl and I had a Pool Party and Barbeque. We invited our Play Group friends. We had 4 kiddie pools and ate hot dogs. We had ten adults and 15 children under the age of 5. It was super crazy, but fun.

Saturday: Morgan went mountain biking with the Scouts. It's part of getting in shape for his huge bike ride next month. It's becoming one of his favorite new hobbies. I think it's great, and he loved it. Our city had a little festival in the park, so we went to see the booths. We quickly discovered that it was entirely too hot and way too many people to actually see the booths.

Sunday: We did our usual church thing that day. Our friends had a neighborhood barbeque that evening that we went to. It was fun to get together and eat great food. This is where Baby Girl was introduced to Sparklers. Morgan was holding BG, while she held the sparkler. I kept waiting for Morgan's hair to catch on fire. She kept waving her hand all around. We kept telling her to not touch it because it was hot, and I think it made her nervous. After her first Sparkler burned out, she wouldn't hold another one. She wanted me to hold it, not her.

Monday: We started our day entirely too early. We woke BG up early to go see the Hot Air Balloons that were in town for the city's festival. We were so sure that she would LOVE it. We rode our bikes to the field, and her eyes lit up when she saw all of the balloons. We got out and walked around all of the balloons as they were filling up, and she got a little scared. She had to be held. She acted tired, and didn't seem too interested in them. She was captivated by the pig balloon though. There was a bank that had a piggy bank, and she still talks about how huge it was. My favorite was the Coca Cola balloon, it was shaped like an old fashioned Coke bottle. There were probably 20 balloons that all filled up and took off. It was awesome. When they were in the air, we decided to head back home. Baby Girl did NOT want to go. She threw a massive fit. I think she enjoyed watching the balloons from a safer distance, and not when we were so close to them. On our way home, we stopped at a neighborhood breakfast. We have a really friendly neighborhood! Morgan went on another bike ride with a couple of his buddies, and BG and I came home to take a nap. BG slept for almost 3 hours. Monday evening, we had a couple of people over for a barbeque. It was fun to have people over.

We had a great, relaxing weekend with lots of food. But that's what having a holiday is about, right?

Every single day, I ask myself where my baby went. Honestly, my baby is a total toddler on her way to preschooler before I know it. She can communicate so well, and her vocabulary is increasing exponentially every day. She pulled out the word  'snake' today, and I don't ever remember teaching her snake. Her memory is incredible. She remembers EVERYTHING and talks about it for hours, days, weeks, or even months after the fact. Little things like when I bumped my head a month ago, she still talks about it. She's so funny. Her new thing is to tease us. She was holding one of her hair bows and I asked her what color it was. She said 'blue', and yes it was blue. I said my 'good job'. Then she held it up with a smile on her face and said 'purple'. And I said, "What? That's not purple!" And she just started giggling. So, I asked her again, "What color is it?" and with that same smile and look in her eye, she said "purple!" So, I laughed with her and told her she was teasing me. So, every now and then, she tells me something that is different than it is, giggles and says 'tease'. She kills me. Enjoy these few pictures from the last couple of days. Baby Girl loves to have her picture taken. When she's doing something that she thinks is cute, she points to the camera, gives a cheesy smile, and says 'picture' (which sounds a lot like pickle). All of these pictures were taken at her request.

I honestly feel like summer is finally here. We have temperatures in the high 90s this week. Wow, it's hot! We are trying to enjoy the warm weather while it is here. We've been doing a lot of yard work. I threw a Bridal Shower for one of my friends a couple of weeks ago, and we had it in our back yard. Which means: we needed to get the back yard cleaned up for the shower. We still have a lot of work to do, but it looks about 200% better than it did when we moved in. And our little garden is growing (minus the corn: the birds keep eating it). We're also grilling a lot more - which I love! That means Morgan does more of the cooking, and I get a little bit of a break! We tried grilling pizza - and we had great success. It cooks a lot faster than in the oven, and it doesn't heat up the house! 

We are starting to go biking. Well, Morgan works with the Young Men and Scouting, and for mutual they have been doing a lot of biking. They get to go on a High Adventure outing for a few days, and they have to go 50+ miles on their bikes. It's absolutely crazy. So, we got Morgan a better mountain bike for Father's Day. And we found a bike trailer to haul Baby Girl in. These things are expensive, and hard to find used. Luckily, we found a good deal on a used one and snatched it up before anyone else could. My favorite thing about this is that it can convert into a jogging stroller. Now, all I have to do, is pick up jogging! So, now we can go on family bike rides. There is a trail right by our house that is perfect for walking and biking. Maybe that will help us get in a little bit better shape.

We are loving being outside - in the shade when it's too hot. Yesterday, I gave BG a popsicle. She loves these. When we are inside, I usually hold them and give her bites. But we went outside, so I let her hold her own. I stripped off all her clothes, so I wouldn't have to worry about stains. BG says "nakey" when we take her clothes off. It's really cute. After she was done with her popsicle, I asked her if she wanted me to put clothes back on her, and she said "no, nakey". Alright then. Then we decided to blow up the kiddy pool and let BG play in the water. Brrrr, it was cold at first, but BG got used to it. She loved splashing in the water. She wouldn't sit down in the water though. I might be pretty mean, but I told her to go put her hair in the water. So, as any obedient child would do, she bent over upside down, and put the top of her head in the freezing water. She let out a huge gasp and popped her head up as fast as she could. Then cold water ran down her face and back. She did a little whiny cry, then started giggling and did it again! It was pretty entertaining.

Baby Girl and I had quite the adventure yesterday. We attend a weekly Play Group with other moms and kids in our ward. BG still hasn't figured out that she can play with the other kids. Oh well. Yesterday, our Play Group went to a local exhibit that had farm animals. They had goats, chickens, turkeys, cows, horses, pigs, and ducks. Baby Girl LOVED it, but she didn't like to get too close to the animals. But she enjoyed looking at all the animals. I think she had two favorites: the pigs and the ducks. The pigs were boring and just taking a nap in the shade, but she liked looking at them! Then they had a duck pond with lots of ducks and geese. We could hear the geese "honking", so BG tried to copy them. It was cute.

After we saw all the animals, we took the kids on a pony ride. Yes, that's right. What little kid would not want to go on a pony ride? My child would NOT. She was scared to death. I had to pry her out of my arms, just to get her to sit on the pony. Then she would cry and say "all done". I told her, "one more, then we can be all done." So, we made a little loop around the carousal a total of three times, before she just jumped off her pony into my arms. You can see from the picture the death grip she has on my arm. She never let go of me. It was probably a pretty traumatic experience. Afterwards, we had a picnic in the shade, and she forgot all about it. What a fun day with friends!

It kills me how fast Baby Girl is growing up. I have mini panic attacks when she throws a massive tantrum and I realize that she's entering her 'terrible two' phase (even though she still has 3 months until she's 2). On the other hand, it is so much fun watching her grow into a little girl. Her vocabulary is HUGE. She repeats EVERYTHING I say. Yesterday, in the car, I yelled "green arrow" to the car in front of me - who didn't realize that the light had just turned green. Sure enough, BG yelled 'green arrow' just like me. Luckily, it wasn't anything profane.

Yesterday, we were hanging out on the couch. Baby Girl wanted to play her 'small' guitar. It's actually a ukulele, but she just calls it 'small'. Then she points to Morgan's guitar and says 'big'. She was sitting there, strumming the strings and singing her songs. It was so cute. It looks like she's actually playing chords. What a smart girl.

Yes, our child has 2 binkies in her mouth in this picture. I thought I boxed up all of her binkies months ago. She never really took a binky when she was a baby. Evidently, there were 2 binkies left in the bottom of her toy basket that she found the other day. Sometimes, she's not a genius baby - because you don't really need to have 2 binkies in your mouth at the same time. It made for a cute picture, anyway. Baby Girl has learned the number 2. Well, sort of. She can recognize the number 2, and say 'two', and she tries to hold up two fingers (but she actually holds up eight fingers). But whenever there is more than one of anything - she says there are two of them. Sometimes she's right, and there are only two. Sometimes, there are seventeen, but she says 'two!'. We're working on it!

She's getting pretty good with opposites too. I'm pretty impressed with the opposite words that she knows. Her new favorite word seems to be 'NO'. (yes, we've entered that phase). Whenever we tell her 'no', she always finds something that she can say 'yes' to. For example, she always tries to open our cupboard in our kitchen with cleaners and chemicals. We always say No, No, No. Then she points to the other cupboard and says "yes". She also knows 'on' and 'off'. She's great about using them especially with her shoes. She knows 'hot' and 'cold'. She also loves to say 'hello' and 'bye' - especially when she's talking on her phones. About a month ago, she learned 'huge'. So everything was either 'huge' or 'small'. Since then, we've taught her 'big'. So, now when she sees things, they are either 'big', 'huge', or 'small'. She eats her eggs for breakfast according to size. As she eats them, she has to tell me whether it is 'small', 'big' or 'huge'. She also can say 'open' and 'up', but she hasn't learned the opposite words for them yet. She's such a cutie!